


One Of the Lost

by ColdAndBrokenHallelujah



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: F/M, Gen, Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Spoilers up to S5M22
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9466961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColdAndBrokenHallelujah/pseuds/ColdAndBrokenHallelujah
Summary: Phil does something he hasn't done in months, read the names of the lost. What he doesn't know is that someone unexpected is listening.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Female Runner 5. Spoilers up until season 5 mission 22. If you haven't gotten through season 5 mission 22 you will be spoiled.

Zoe was watching the sun begin to rise over the horizon. It had been a long night. She was used to the soft groans of the shamblers carried towards them on the breeze. She had even become accustomed to the soft scratches of undead fingernails against the windows. It almost bored her. What she couldn’t get used to was Phil’s incessant talking in his sleep. She needed a distraction and found it by was wasting precious battery life browsing through Rofflenet. There wasn’t much to it anymore. It had been taken over by the ministry. Just as she was about to turn the whole thing off and wake Phil a posting caught her eyes. “No!” She exclaimed, louder than she should have considering their current situation

She read it again, looked at the photos. Zoe still couldn’t believe it. The photos were accompanied by a simple message. Runner 5, betrayer of Abel Township and all of Britain, was dead. The photos were unmistakable. There was Five, her arm bleeding from an obvious bite. She looked panicked and helpless. Her legs were caked in dust and mud and streaked with bloody scratches. Behind her was the zombie that had ended her life, one gunshot wound to the head ending his undead one. They called it a punishment for her betrayal. Zoe recognized it for what it was, murder.

Zoe debated waking Phil. They had been traveling for days, keeping one step ahead of the ministry. It hadn’t been easy. This wasn’t what she had signed up for, traveling around the countryside with her cohost, keeping extremely tight quarters, barely sleeping, and quickly losing hope. If she had known what was in store for her Zoe might have told the council to take their job and shove it all those years ago. Sometimes she wondered how much more she could take. Not much more. She was sure of that.

With a deep sigh Zoe gave Phil and soft nudge with her foot. He barely moved and made and infuriating huffing noise. This next time she gave him a good, swift jab in the side. Phil sat up cursing. “What is it Zoe?” he was panicking. Zoe would never wake him unless something serious was happening. He was ready to spring into action, his hands blindly groping for the bat he always kept close by.

Phil found the bat and after several uncoordinated seconds sat up and took a small swing. Zoe stopped it with her hand, the sound of the bat hitting her palm reverberating throughout the car. “Oh for heaven’s sake Phil….” Zoe exclaimed “Put the bat down. Now I remember why we decided against guns. It’s just me. There’s something on Rofflenet. I have to tell you something.”

Zoe was looking at him. She was annoyed but Phil was still half asleep. He needed a minute to gather himself. Anyway, most of what was on Rofflenet these days was propaganda and nonsense. They had stopped taking it seriously weeks ago. Phil threw the bat back down. “If there had been a zombie in here you would be much more appreciative of my quick reflexes. I can take down a horde with one hand behind my back”. Zoe just stared back exasperated. “Well, what is it then?” Then he thought about it for a moment. “Who is it?” He said quietly.

Zoe took a deep breath. She turned the laptop’s dirty and slightly cracked screen around. “It’s Runner 5. They’ve killed Runner 5.” Phil was silent. He looked more closely at the screen, studying the photos. It wasn’t possible. Nobody could kill Runner 5. Neither said a word. Zoe looked from the screen back to Phil. “You have to read her name. She’s one of the fallen now.”

Phil sat up and managed to gather all of the equipment he would need in order to go live. Zoe started gathering everything that they needed in order to start moving again as soon as they were done. The ministry was never far behind and every time the broadcast they put themselves at risk. It hadn’t been long since the last time they were on air. They were taking a tremendous risk.

He looked over at Zoe. His index finger was poised to flip the switch that would start the broadcast. “Are you sure Zoe? It might not be worth it. Maybe a twenty one sports bra salute instead?” Phil gave a small chuckle and Zoe cracked a slight smile. She pointed at the switch, indicating that it was time.

Phil’s voice cut through the silence at Noah Base. Five had forgotten to turn the radio off after Phil and Zoe signed off. They usually didn’t come back for days. She understood why. They were always rushing from place to place. Their lives were in danger now, the price on their heads would be a temptation for unscrupulous opportunists. There were so many of those these days.

“Hello Cit-i-zens!” Five smiled. Hearing Phil’s voice was always comforting. It was like a piece of Abel. Five was tidying up the rec room. She still didn’t understand what they heck Demons and Darkness was. Unbelievably, they all still played it. It always resulted in a mess the next day. Papers, food wrappers, empty cups, and furniture left willy nilly all over the room. Five knew that Janine would blame Sam for the breech of cleaning protocols so she decided to sneak in here before anyone else woke up to set it all back to normal. Anyway, she needed something to do while she was recovering.

“Five!” She whirled around and sighed. It was Sam. Of course it was Sam. “Why are you up? You should be resting and are you seriously cleaning up after me?” Sam ran a hand through his dark, severely unkempt hair which only served to make it worse. Five just looked at him, her wide eyes daring him to chastise her again. “It’s not that bad. Anyway, we were having fun…” Without warning Five tossed something towards his head. Sam yelped and managed to deflect it before it hit him square in the forehead. “Come on Five……” He looked down at the half eaten candy bar that was now sitting at his feet. “Sometimes I wonder if you are becoming the enemy of fun. Fun is still okay……” He gave the candy bar a small kick and what looked like a pout began to from on his face. “…..Too much time with Janine.” He muttered under his breath. Five was looking at him, her expression incredulous.

“Janine would skin you alive if she saw this room. Her love of the rules and protocol has only multiplied since we left Abel. Do you want her to turn your rec room into another war room? I heard her threatening to do it the other day.” Sam laughed as he walked over to join Five. “The candy bar Sam…..” her voice exasperated “You left it on the floor.” Five rolled her eyes and turned her back “What do you guys do in here….” Five was talking to herself.

Sam’s ears perked up when he heard Phil’s voice coming over the radio. “It’s too soon.” Sam said but Five just shushed him as she waved her hand dismissively.

“I’m here broadcasting to you now in order to do something I haven’t done in months. Don’t have the time now really. This is important though. We’re doing this now….”

Zoe piped in, “We just received some disturbing and disheartening news. Runner Five, hero of Abel town ship has been murdered by the Ministry. We know that’s not what the ministry is saying. We know they’ve called Five a traitor….”

“But she wasn’t….” Phil interjected “All those times she saved our lives, put herself in danger. Not even sure she was human.”

Zoe sighed audibly “Of course she was human Phil. Don’t be sensational. She was just different. Not like other people.”

“You have to admit Zoe, she survived so much. Maybe she’s not…..” Phil was quickly cut off, Zoe interjecting by clearing her throat. One would imagine that she was shaking her head, willing him not to be daft. “No….no….. you’re right. There were photos. Giving our listeners false hope would be wrong.” He said, quickly.

“And we have a job to do” Zoe said solemnly. “Just read the name Phil.” There was silence for a moment, as if Phil couldn’t bring himself to do it. Sam looked over at Five. She was just standing there, staring at the radio. Sam took a few steps forward, closing the gap between the two of them. He tried to reach for her but Five took a half a step forward, putting herself just out of his reach. Sam couldn’t help but think that some things never changed.

Eventually, Phil broke the silence. He only said one name, Runner Five. As soon as he said it the feed clicked off, severing the connection. Five turned on her heel and found herself facing Sam. “I forgot.” She said quietly “They think I’m…….”

“Dead.” Sam finished for her. “It’s supposed to be that way Five. That means the plan worked.” Five wasn’t talking and Sam knew that meant her brain was whirring at a mile a minute. He watched as her gaze traveled down to her arm. The zombie bite was still there. It would scar, a permanent reminder of her torture and her escape. She touched the broken skin gently,

“It could have, so easily, been different’ Five said softly “I thought it was over. When that thing bit into my arm, I was sure that it was the end.”

Sam took Five’s arm and studied the injury. He hadn’t really allowed himself to look at it before. The bite was deep and had begun to bruise. So close, he had come so close to losing his best friend. It was all still fresh in his mind. He remembered screaming for Five to run, even when he knew that she couldn’t. He felt guilty for his selfishness in those moments. He had just wanted her back. It didn’t matter how or in what state. They would figure it out. They always figured it out.

“You were like Phil.” Five said. She wasn’t looking at him in the eyes. She was focused somewhere off in the distance. Sam hated the fact that she was reliving this moment. He wanted to tell her to stop but lost his nerve. Five plowed ahead. “You didn’t want to believe that I was dead. You kept watching me on the cams.” Finally, she met his eyes. “Why?”

Sam dropped Five’s hand. “I couldn’t stop. I saw you go down, start stumbling….. It didn’t matter.” Sam spoke quickly, tripping over his words. “I had to be sure that you were really gone. Sure that I had lost my Runner. Until I saw the zombie, you were still you. Until I saw that, it wasn’t over.”

“Like Alice” Five said meekly.

“No. Not like Alice” Sam said, his eyes flashing, his voice rose and there was an edge to it. Did she really think, after all this time, after everything they had experienced together that he still compared her to Alice. Five looked up. Sam never yelled and he especially never yelled at her. “It was different Five. You’re different. Nobody has stayed alive out there as long as you. Nobody has gone through as much as you.” Sam dropped down into a nearby chair. He could barely gather his thoughts. He had wanted to say this, or a version of this, for so long. “It would have felt wrong if you died because of our stupid mistake. That’s not how this is supposed to end.”

Five moved closer to Sam. She smiled slightly. “How is it supposed to end Sam? Do you have a plan I should know about?” Five bumped him in his shoulder with her hip. He swayed slightly. The serious look stayed on his face. Five jammed herself in the too small chair right beside Sam. She reached up and tousled his hair. The chair was nowhere near big enough to accommodate two people. They were smashed together, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Five rarely joked around. Sam recognized this as the rare moment it was. He couldn’t help but smile at her. The fear and anxiety drained from his body. Five draped her arms around Sam’s neck. “Tell me your ending Sam. You have me curious.”

Sam laughed. “In my ending……” He looked at her. An errant hair had worked its way out of her ponytail. He tucked it behind her ear. He started again. “In my ending you live, Five. You retire and pass your number on to another Runner. I never have to worry about you dying ever again.” Sam trailed off.

“Is that all Sam?” Five said as she wiggled out of their shared arm chair. She was headed back to clean up the rec room. Sam quickly jumped up and chased after her.

“That’s not all, actually.” He said, as he leaned down to snatch up a discarded piece of paper before Five could get to it.

“What else is there Sam?” She said, placing her hands on her hips. “It’s a tall order as it is.” Five was smiling. Sam took it as a good sign. Still, he hesitated for a minute. He had asked before and Five had always shook her head and ignored the request as if he had never said it.

“What’s your real name Five? Come on! We’re best friends and I saved your skin this last time and lots of times before. I have to know! You owe me!” Five laughed out loud. Actually laughed out loud. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, you have a point.

Five walked over and grabbed Sam by the collar. She jerked him forward and started to whisper his ear. Sam stayed perfectly still. He had wanted to know her real name forever……. “Alright Sam” Five sighed. There was a note of amusement in her voice. “My name is……..”

“MR. YAO!” Janine’s sharp voice echoed through the rec room. Five practically tossed Sam to the other side of the room. He landed square on his rear end. “Look at this room! It is a disaster. Access to the rec room is a privilege and not a right. I expect this to be cleaned up immediately.” Five tried to hide her amusement. “And Five….” Janine’s tone was slightly gentler. Five snapped to attention anyway. “We need you outside for drills. Nothing too strenuous. Get moving.”

Five looked over her shoulder at Sam, gave him a quick wink and a wave goodbye. “Next time you save my life Sam Yao, my name is yours. Promise. We won’t have to wait long.”

 


End file.
